adidas wasn’t always the brand with three stripes. In fact, until 1951, Finnish brand Karhu used the three stripes as their logo until they sold the branded trademark to adidas for the what would now be 1,600€ (plus two bottles of whiskey). This came after two very strong shows at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, but since those days the brand has largely fell into obscurity. Until this week.
Karhu teased the return of their Aria shoe almost nine months ago, but people are just starting to notice now. Mostly because three days ago they revealed three new colorways of the Aria on their Instagram.
Technically one of the colorways (cream, purple, pink) is the original colorway as designed by Soni O’David, the designer of the Aria, when it was debuted 20 years ago. Soni was brought back to consult on this project to make sure their retro runner was authentically retro. All of Karhu’s models feature incredibly retro styling, but the Aria straddles the line between vintage and contemporary. Much like ASICS’ Gel Lyte V or Nike’s Air Huarache Light, large panels are placed strategically around subtle details making them look both athletic and stylish.
Karhu is dropping these three colorways worldwide on June 20. It will be interesting to see how the sneaker community reacts to this new offering by this classic brand.
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